"We will immediately appeal to the 5th Circuit,” Gibbs said. “The president strongly believes, as the Department of Interior and the Department of Justice argued yesterday, that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense and puts the safety of those involved — potentially puts the safety of those on the rigs and safety of the environment in the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we cannot afford right now.”

The judge’s order lifting the moratorium takes effect immediately, but the administration could seek a stay from the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana or a higher court.

Also, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday night that he would issue a new order imposing a moratorium that contains additional information on why the drilling delay is needed.

Obama ordered a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in late May after receiving an Interior Department report on the April 20 Deepwater Horizon explosion that caused the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. The moratorium was intended to pause deepwater expeditions while officials determine the cause of the BP oil spill.

Administration officials defended the government in a hearing Monday. But Judge Martin Feldman ruled Tuesday in favor of Hornbeck Offshore Services, the company that filed a lawsuit against the administration charging that the moratorium has inflicted economic hardship on the industry and the Gulf Coast.

Feldman argued in his decision that the administration, specifically Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, did not properly weigh all of the evidence and adopted the moratorium in haste.

“If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy-handed, and rather overbearing,” Feldman wrote.

The decision is a blow to Obama and a victory for the oil industry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who supported the lawsuit.

In its defense, the Interior Department argued that the moratorium is in “the public’s interest” and is intended to ensure “a tragedy like this does not occur again.” Several major environmental groups filed briefs backing the administration’s position.

The Interior Department review that Obama had ordered in the wake of the oil spill was central in Feldman’s decision. The judge criticized Salazar, saying the peer review portion of the report was “factually incorrect” and that another memorandum “fails to explain the reasons for the suspension of operations or the depth of operations to be affected.”

Obama conceded last week the economic hardship the moratorium has brought against companies and oil workers, particularly those along the Gulf Coast, and has asked the national commission he formed to investigate the cause of the BP oil spill to complete that aspect of their work before the December deadline for its overall report.

“I know this creates difficulty for the people who work on these rigs, but for the sake of their safety, and for the sake of the entire region, we need to know the facts before we allow deepwater drilling to continue,” Obama said in an Oval Office address last Tuesday night. “And while I urge the commission to complete its work as quickly as possible, I expect them to do that work thoroughly and impartially.”

Readers' Comments (137)

A judge that knows the law and refuses to allow the marxist fascist takeover by the 0zer0 regime to continue. 0zer0 continues to use the judicial system against the American people. Shutting down the gulf, and suing Arizona over his failure to secure the borders.

It is truly amazing to to see the incompetence, arrogance, petulance, and hypocrisy of the libtard dumbcrats and their Dear Reader Leader the Campaigner In Chief 0zer0 destroy this country piece by piece.

The marxist fascist libtard dumbcrats keep doing more of the same failed policies that the country has rejected over and over. Prove Einstein correct when he said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

First they destroyed the economy when they voted for TARP and bailed out the banks and Wallstreet. Then they used the money as their own private slush fund to take over AIG, Fannie & Freddie (which went bankrupt and were delisted by Wallstreet last week). Then they took over Government and Communist Motors to pay back the UAW.

Then it was the Porkulus bill that was supposed to keep unemployment at 8%, not the 10% it is now. Then there was the Final Solution, the 0zer0 Socialized Soylent Green Healthcare. The 2500 page bill that no one read, that we now find out doesn't lower costs, doesn't allow individuals to keep their existing plans, cuts payments to doctors for Medicare - forcing them to turn away new Medicare patients, funds abortion, and sets up death panels. It's so bad for 0zer0 that he has to trot out a Patients Bill of Rights to try to salvage it. Everyday 0zer0 proves Joe Wilson was right when he told 0zer0 "You Lie".

Or how about Cash for Clunkers, Cash for Caulkers, and Mortgage Relief Plans, all of which have failed under 0zer0. Or his Cap & Tax plan to kill the energy industry and replace it with green technology that doesn't exist. Or maybe his shakedown of Barrack Petroleum will save us and the gulf from his oil spill disaster. Hey 0zer0 - "Have you plugged the hole yet, Daddy?"

And now it is 0zer0 foreign policy that is a failure. Close Gitmo, but it is still open. Oppose the Iraq surge, which ultimately worked. Surge troops to Afghanistan, but simultaneously announce you will withdraw them a year later, plus change the rules of engagement so they can't take the fight to the enemy. Bow to one foreign leader after another. Embrace Chavez & Castro. Abandon the resistance in Iran. Allow Nukes in N.Korea and Iran. Throw Poland under the bus by taking away missle defense. Allow Russia to re-establish the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. Abandon Israel to terrorists. Let N.Korea blow up S.Korea ships. No wonder McCrystal is speaking the truth about 0zer0 foreign policy is getting under the narcissist's skin. 0rszag bailing out of the sinking 0zer0 Regime ship before he totally destroys this country is just the first of many abandoning the 0zer0 Titanic.

This country has seen through the lies of the 0zer0 Regime. November can't come soon enough so we can throw out the libtard dumbcrats that have run the congress since 2006, and destroyed this economy and country. Then in 2012, we will throw out the marxists, fascist narcissist petulant man-child Dear Reader Leader Campaigner In Chief 0zer0 and his regime.

Louisiana is at the bottom of every list for a reason. I love my home state but the lack of critical thought down here is infuriating. Here we are worrying that we may soon be living in a new Love Canal and these idiots want to allow the oil companies to keep drilling when they've shown they have no blow out plan in place. Please Obama.....save us from ourselves!!

Appeal a ruling that will get people back to work. A ruling that will allow for domestic production of oil & gas as opposed to importing it. Face it Dems you cannot legislate away demand for fossil fuels overnight without destroying the economy.

sdshack, You so funny. When you grow up and understand economics and foriegn policy then you can call yourself a conservative. Just because you are excited by Rush and Glen does not make you a conservative. Actually it just makes you a fool.

Poor Obama - LMAO. But then again it's not his fault this country elected someone who was SO INCREDIBLY UNQUALIFIED to be President of the United States. Be careful what you ask for. Now the responsible ones left in this country MUST get out and VOTE this fall! See what happens when you stay home?

To overturn the moratorium while oil is still spewing, while there's NO way to stop another such disaster immediately and while the oil companies are all relying on the same outdated and ineffective emergency plans is sheer insanity...........If another well blows out while this one is still gushing away, it's completely on the heads of this idiot judge Feldman and all the elected officials blathering their nonsense of "drill baby drill"

You guys haven't seen the dead animals in the marshes have you?? Cleaned any beaches lately? Or smelled the burning petroleum fumes wafting on the hot summer breeze?? I can accept that you all hate Obama and I really don't care......but to want Louisiana to turn into a dead zone really gets me steamed. I'm sure you will blame Obama and the Louisianians when a hurricane pushes this oil into downtown New Orleans. It's easier than trying to help.

To overturn the moratorium while oil is still spewing, while there's NO way to stop another such disaster immediately and while the oil companies are all relying on the same outdated and ineffective emergency plans is sheer insanity...........If another well blows out while this one is still gushing away, it's completely on the heads of this idiot judge Feldman and all the elected officials blathering their nonsense of "drill baby drill"

There are ways to clean it up faster.

Why has Obama declined help from foreign governments that have experience and equipment to clean up the oil?

And where would you suggest America get its oil? From the mideast or from the gulf?

Surprise! Judge Feldman is a Reagan appointee. The reason republicans assume that democratic judicial appointees will follow ideology and not the law is because that's what republican judges do in almost every circumstance.

Surprise! Judge Feldman is a Reagan appointee. The reason republicans assume that democratic judicial appointees will follow ideology and not the law is because that's what republican judges do in almost every circumstance.

I love how Messiah wants to wait for the conclusions from a hand-picked panel--hand-picked to have a very anti-oil point of view from the outset.

I have read that only one--ONE--of the panelists is an "engineer" and his specialty is optics. Great credentials for handling the complex business of minerals extraction, don't you think? Gee, I hope the rest of the panel are lawyers. We clearly need more lawyers in this society. Only they know what is best.